The invention relates to a package for food products, a blank for a package for food products as well as a method of manufacturing such a blank.
Packages containing food products have to fulfill various requirements. Firstly, the content of the package must be kept safely inside the package until they are to be consumed. Secondly, when it is desired to consume the product contained in the package, the package should be easy to open and preferably reclosable. Finally, it is important that any contamination of the contents of the package is prevented. In this context, the invention particularly relates to a package which is insect-proof implying that also tiny insects are not capable of entering the package.
Experiments have shown that insects, which are small enough to pass through cuts or perforations formed in a carton can enter a package made of carton. This can be effectively prevented by a package consisting of a carton, which is itself enclosed in a plastic foil which is tightly sealed. However, such a known package is comparably complex and difficult to open, because the plastic foil has to be torn, and the carton inside has to be opened in a further, separate step.
It is the object underlying the invention to provide a package for food products, which is both easy to open and insect proof implying that also tiny insects cannot reach the inside of the package. Furthermore, a blank, which is suitable for such a package and a method of manufacturing such a blank are to be provided.
These objects are according to a first aspect of the invention solved by means of the package.
Accordingly, the package comprises on the one hand a carton. The carton is formed with a dividing line which can be broken so as to provide access to the inside of the carton. On the other hand, the package comprises a film which will in most embodiments fully enclose the content of the package and, therefore, also has a dividing line allowing easy separation of the film. In order to prevent insects from entering the package, the dividing line of the carton and the dividing line of the film are offset relative to each other, and the film is attached to the carton at least in the area between the dividing line of the carton and the dividing line of the film. However, it might be sufficient to apply the film to the carton merely in the surroundings of any dividing lines, cuts or other openings of the carton. In this case, the edge of a piece of film attached to the carton corresponds to the dividing line of the film, to which reference is made above. Correspondingly, the edge of the film is also intended to be covered when reference is made to the dividing line in the following.
Due to this structure, insects are effectively prevented from entering the package due to the following reasons. As mentioned above, very tiny insects are obviously capable of passing through cuts of a perforation which could for example define the dividing line of the carton. However, once an insect has reached the inner surface of the carton, the film which is bonded to the cartonxe2x80x94in this particular embodiment to the inside surface of the cartonxe2x80x94prevents the insect from reaching the inside of the package. In particular, the fact that the film is firmly attached to the carton at least in the area between the dividing line of the carton and the dividing line or the edge of the film prevents the insect from reaching the dividing line of the film, which it would have to pass in order to get to the inside of the package. Preferably, the film is bonded, laminated or glued to the carton in the entire area between the dividing line of the carton and the dividing line of the film in order to achieve the above-mentioned effect.
The explanations above were given with regard to an embodiment, in which the film is attached on the inside surface of the package. Similarly, the film could be attached to the outside of the package. Also in this case, any insects, which might be capable of passing through the cuts formed in the film in order to define a dividing line, will be prevented from advancing further, because that portion of the film, which is located between the dividing line of the film and the dividing line of the carton is attached to the carton so as to prevent the insect from reaching the dividing line formed in the carton, which the insect would have to pass through in order to reach the inside of the package. It should additionally be mentioned that the easy-opening characteristic of the package is also maintained. According to the invention, the dividing lines of the film and of the carton respectively are offset relative to each other. However, this offset can be formed small enough so as to allow both dividing lines to be broken with a single action. In other words, when the dividing line of the carton is broken during opening of the package, the dividing line formed in the film will also be broken, and the package can be opened with little effort.
Preferred embodiments of the inventive package are described in the further claims.
With regard to the amount of offset between the dividing lines of the carton and of the film respectively, an offset of 2 mm to 4 mm has proved to be effective for both preventing insects from entering the package and maintaining the easy-opening characteristics of the package. That is, the described offset as well as the corresponding surface area, at which the film is attached to the carton, can effectively prevent insects from reaching the further dividing line, after they have passed through the dividing line formed in the outer element of the package. Furthermore, the mentioned amount of offset does not hinder the opening of the carton.
With regard to an attractive outer appearance of the inventive package, and in view of preferred manufacturing procedures, it is currently preferred that the film is attached to the inside of the package.
As regards the dividing line formed in the carton allowing separation of the carton so as to provide access to the contents of the package, it has been found advantageous to form the dividing line of the carton as a perforation line.
The dividing line of the film can efficiently be formed by laser-cutting. In particular, half-cutting of the film, that is reducing the thickness of the film along a line so as to define an easy-to-break dividing line, is preferred in this context.
With regard to the opening area of the inventive package, it provides advantages with regard to easy opening as well as the possibility of reclosing the inventive package to form a flap adjacent the dividing line of the carton.
In this context, secure sealing of the package as well as reclosability can be realized if the dividing line is covered by a tab which comprises a tearable strip and which is at least partially bonded to the flap adjacent the dividing line. Easy opening of the package can be achieved by removing the tearable strip so that the upper tab and the lower flap can be brought in a position to allow access to the packages inside. When a cut is formed in the lower flap, the upper tab can be locked by means of inserting a portion of the tab into the cut so as to reclose the carton after its first opening.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the above-stated object underlying the invention is solved by means of a blank of a package. Corresponding to the above-described structure of the inventive package, the inventive blank is characterized by the fact that a dividing line formed in the carton is offset relative to a dividing line formed in or an edge of the film, and that the film is attached to the carton at least in that area, which is located between the two dividing lines. As can be easily understood, the inventive blank allows the manufacture of the inventive package with standard folding and gluing procedures.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a method of manufacturing a blank for a package of a food product is provided. The inventive method is specified by the steps of forming a dividing line in a carton and thereafter attaching a film to the carton at least in the surroundings of the dividing line formed in the carton. Finally, a dividing line or an edge is formed in the film such that an area, in which the film is attached to the carton, is formed between the dividing lines of the carton and the film respectively. Furthermore, standard printing, cutting, perforating and creasing procedures are employed in order to produce an appropriate blank.
It should be noted that the preferred embodiments of both the inventive blank and the inventive method correspond to those features of the preferred embodiments of the inventive package, which are explained in detail above and do not have to be explained further with regard to the inventive blank and method.